Release valve



July l, 1930. vN. T. Fox 1,768,899v

RELEASE VALVE Filed May 16, 1929 Patented July 1, 1930 UNiTED STATES RELEASE VALVE.

rlhis invention relates to release valves and is particularly designedas a release valve for auxiliary air reservoirs in railway air brake systems. p I

5 'lrhe chief object of my invention is to provide a releasevalve which, when installed in an air line and manuallyopened, .will auto matioally close whenlthe air pressure on'both sides of the valve becomes equal;

1Q Anotherobj ect of my invention is the prol duction of a'irelease valve especially adapted Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View of my valve shown in its open position.

The air braking system as applied to rail- 2 5 way trains comprises a compressor located upon the locomotive. On the compressor an air line conducts the compressed air along the entire train. On each individual freight car or passenger coach an auxiliary reservoir 510 is located and is in regulated communication with the brake cylinder and the air line that conducts the air from the compressor located on the engine. u

The purpose of the auxiliary air reservoir .3.5 is to increase the efliciency of the system by having a supply of air located on each car. The air is supplied to the auxiliary reservoir through what is known as a triple valve. But, one train may be made up of fifty or o sixty cars, and when stopped by the air brakes on veach individual car, under the present practice, the pressure in the auxiliary reservoir is reduced by releasing the air to the atmosphere through a manually controlled ref lease valve which is connected to a lever rod running from underneath the car out to the side of the car where it can be readily oper'- ated by the train attendants.

The present release valve in use on railways i0 is normally in a closed position and in order 1529. seria; no. 3,763,441.

toexhaust the air from the auxiliary reservoir it is necessary for the trainmen' to open the valve manually and hold it open'until" suiicient time has elapsed for the pressure to drop because the air has been discharged' to 55 the atmosphere. f 5

"I he time required for releasing each valve is approximately'one minute orI slightlyless', so that where the valves have to be manually held open, in a train of sixty cars, it requires 60 one hour` by one man,- or thirty min'utes'by two men, to release all the valves.4 It 'isithe object of my invention to reduce the timere-` quired to release the air from the auxiliary reservoir which in turn releases the brakes, 65 hence' I have devised a valvei which needs only l to be opened and will automaticallyv close when the pressure inthe auxiliary A'reservoir is sufliciently reduced. It 'is obvious that 'by vso doing a vast amount or time in the aggrel 70 gate will be saved to the railroads by shorten'- '"4 ing the time that it is necessaryfor the train to stand-idle until its 'brakes are released;

In my preferred method =of construction, I provide a cylinder l'having a piston 2, pro- 75 vided with piston rings 3, reciprocable'therein and adapted to be put into open communi'- cation at its lower ende'with an auxiliary reservoir.4 i i l j The upper endof the cylinder 6 is adapted 40 to beputinto open communication by means of the pipe 7 v with the main air line 8, which uin turn is in open conunuiiication with an air compressor located upon the llocomotive` Theline'Sis also in communication with 8? the reservoir 5 through what isknown as a 1" triple valve 9. i. l Q Air `under pressure passing through the line`8, upon reaching the T10 would evidentllydivide, la portion of it going through the 99 triple ,ValVG 9 into the reservoir 5,"and ,the 1" other portion passes through the linej Sand enters" my valve from the top tending. to force the piston downwardly to the limit of its stroke. i Q5 Intermediate of the ends of the piston an ai raperture .ll is provided in which an eccentric l2 is rotatably mounted, the eccentricbeing` integral with the stem 13 ofthe valve which isrotatably mounted in a bushing" 1pc held in place by a boss 15 externally screwthreaded on its outer end adapted to engage internal threads in a cover cap 16.

A lever or hand wheel 17 is rigidly attached to the outer end of the valve stem 13 by means of which the cam 12 may be rotated.l It is obvious that if the lever or hand wheel17 be rotated anti-clockwise, the cam 12 would lift the piston 2 to its upper position as shown in Fig. 2, and it would remain in that.

position until turned clockwise.

A helical torsion spring 18 is rigidly attached at its inner end to the valve stem 13 and rigidly attached at its outer end to the cover cap 16 in such a manner that the eccentric 12 will be normally held with its top or toe 19 projecting downwardly a few degrees from a vertical line for the purpose of having the cam 11 always olf dead center.

A port 2() through the cylinder wall puts the cylinder in open communication with the atmosphere Lwhen the` piston is moved upwardly clearing the pert 20, best shown in Fig. 2. V

The operation'ofmy valve is as follows: I/Vhen the air from the compressor is discharged through the line S, the air under equal pressure flows through the T 10 to the pipe 7 and is discharged into my valve on the top side of the piston, at the same time flowing from the T to the triple valve 9 and discharging into the auxiliary reservoir through the connection 21 to the lower side I wish it understood that while I have disclosed my preferred method of construction, I do not confine myself to the exact details illustrated and described, but desire it under- Stood that my invention covers any modifications that would produce the results above outlined.

Having fully described my invention, what I 'claim as new and useful and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1. A release valve of the class described, comprising automatic means for closing said valve, automatic means for locking said valve in a closed position, manually operable means for unlocking said valve, manually operable means for opening said valve.

2. A release valve of the class described, comprising a cylinder having a port in one end, piston means for opening and closing said port, means for automatically closing said port, means for automatically locking said closing means in a closed position, manually operated means for unlocking said locking means.

3. A release valve of the class described, comprising a cylinder, a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, means for admitting air into each end of said cylinder, a release port in one end of said cylinder, means for opening and closing said port.

In witness whereof I have hereunto afEXed my signature this 11th day of April, 1929.

NATHANIEL T. FOX.

of the piston, the piston then being under p equal pressure on both ends.

When it is desiredy to evacuate the auxiliary reservoir of air, the hand wheel is turned anti-clockwise, which by means of the eccentric raises the piston to theposition shown in Fig. 1 and the air escapes through the port 20.

i The pressure having been equalized on both ends of the piston, the weight of the piston and the reaction `of the torsion spring cause vthe piston to move downwardly closing the `port 20.

If the piston should have a tendency to stick for any reason, when the air under pressure was again turned on the train line 8, the pressure would be greater on the top of the piston'for two reasons, first because the pressure in the reservoir would not build up as fast as the pressure in the upper end of the cylinder, and'secondly because the air yflowing to the top sideof the piston does not pass through any valves hence it would be under Y, i i greater Ymomentum than the air passingV through the triple valve into the reservoir.

Ity is vclearly obvious that a trainman passing from the front to the'rear of a train of sixty cars would reach the end of the train Y practically aV half hour sooner with the use of my valve than khe can by use of the valves per valve.

new used which require one minutes time 

